


Time out

by TheArtCat



Category: Wild Kratts
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, zach redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23788576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtCat/pseuds/TheArtCat
Summary: Zach is so bad at taking care of himself the zachbots now have to delegate the work to the tortuga crew
Relationships: Chris Kratt/Zach Varmitech
Comments: 24
Kudos: 97





	1. two weeks

Two weeks.

He had fooled them. For two weeks.

Their master had been neglecting his health lately. He forgot to eat most of the time, he didn’t sleep, didn’t shower, he worked himself to the bone so much he’d often faint.

At one point while ranting to the wild Kratts, he actually fainted and fell off his platform. They were occupied guarding the animals and fighting off the team but thankfully, one of the brothers managed to catch him.

After that they didn’t want to take any chances, Their master had become a danger to himself and they were programmed to make sure all possible harm done to their master were eliminated. So, they gave their master a time out. 

They would not let him go out to collect any more animals, he wasn’t allowed to work for more than four hours a day or to drink any more coffee after 12 P.M. and they made sure when he went to bed there were no electronics in his room.

They thought they had it under control. They thought he would get better. They were wrong.

Turns out, their master had been hiding a burner phone under his pillow, along with a coffeepot and a mug, pretending to sleep when they checked him and continuing to work afterwards.

He was found out when one of the Zachbots was making his bed and he had forgotten to hide it in a more concealed spot.

They couldn’t help their master. And so they needed to find help elsewhere.

Maybe they should call the Tortuga up.


	2. conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aviva gets a memo, gets confused, and the team debates over zach

When Aviva logged in to the computer today, a request from the Zachbots asking her to babysit her childhood rival and full-time asshole Zach Varmitech because he’s apparently such a workaholic that even robots programmed to ensure his safety couldn’t stop him, was not what she expected to see.

That request, along with the information that the Zachbots are potentially sentient, brought up a deep feeling of confusion on her hand. She had to call the team.

* * *

A little while later, the team gathered up in the central deck, debating whether or not this might be a good idea.

"Yeah, no. " Koki didn't like it, she didn't like _Zach_ and she certainly didn’t like the idea of _having him live at the Tortuga._

" You won’t even give him a chance? " Chris replied. He definitely noticed a change in Zach recently. The bags under his eyes were getting a lot deeper and he was worried of how light he had felt when he caught him a month ago.

" Why would I ? it’s Zach Varmitech, no good’s ever come out of him. It’s probably just another scheme."

"was it a scheme when he fell off his platform? " She was about to reply, then sighed. "Urgh, I hate it when you make good points"

Martin squirmed a bit " I don’t know about this guys, what if he tries to steal some of the tech? Aviva, what do you think? They are your inventions. "

" I thought about that, maybe we can lock all my tech in a cabinet with a password? He’s never been able to get past the ones on the creature power suits before, I don’t see why he would be able to now. "

Jimmy chimed in " you know, he has been getting paler than usual, which is a pretty big exploit. And no matter how annoying he is, you’ve got to admit letting someone get worse and worse until he’s so tired he’ll fall of a cliff is probably... not… great…"

Koki huffed, a bit annoyed the majority was for letting a known villain in their headquarters " it shouldn’t be our responsibility anyway, doesn’t he have relatives or friends or, I don’t know, a doctor he can go see ? "

" he’s got no more living family as far as I know and I’m pretty sure we’re the closes thing he has to decent friends, Koki. " Chris said. "Also , he has a doctor, he’s just refusing to listen to him. Remember, he doesn’t even want to be here. He’s perfectly content with not sleeping for two weeks and being powered by coffee and spite"

" he’s going to be a nightmare the whole time isn’t he? "

"yup"

"yeah"

"probably"

"absolutely"

"well, it’s not like we couldn’t take advantage of the situation, " Aviva chimed in, " if we manage to make him care about us somewhat, we might be able to get him to stop using animals for his machines. "

"that.. actually might work, " Martin said, " he’s never had people care about him before, and I don’t know about you guys but I do genuinely care about him. I just wish he wouldn’t hurt animals"

Everyone nodded, except for Koki , who just gave up and groaned. "fine. But I’m not going to give him special treatment "


	3. Measures are taken and coffeepots are yeeted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally going to have a bit of Zach's perspective! Also some Chris and Zach interactions.

This wasn't happening. It _couldn’t be._

Zach Varmitech considered himself a pretty independent person, he worked alone, he lived alone and he stayed alone. Apparently, that was about to change.

He really didn’t see the point. He was fine- okay, he fell off his platform, but he can be a bit clumsy once in a while! And being a work-oriented person never brought him any issues before, this was just a little rough patch! He was fine! He was!

Alright, he forgot to eat once in a while, but it’s not like he has the time to treat himself, he had to work twice as hard these days if he wanted to build his machines before those wild rats could stop him. Speaking of rats…

He couldn’t believe they actually accepted his robots’ proposition! They were clearly malfunctioning... Yeah his doctor told him his weight was getting dangerously low, but what does she know? She’s never had to run a company, and in this world, if you want to make it, you have to make some sacrifices.

Urgh, his head hurt, he should get some coffee.

Why did those tree huggers even care? It made no sense, if he really was getting sick then it would be one less threat for their precious varmints. No, clearly they just wanted to keep him in check or something. They were probably laughing at him right now, his own inventions turning against him...

The Zachbots were packing his bags, he tried to stop them, but they were just too strong for him.

He could at least try to make the rest of the Tortuga crew as miserable as he was, that would be fun.

* * *

They finally finished preparing the Tortuga , Aviva had built a closet, added a password for the closet, and added even more passwords on to every piece of technology in case someone left it on a table and Zach caught it. She also threw out the old coffeepot and switched it for one that would automatically shut off at 1 P.M.

Jimmy and Koki had added a mattress, some cushion and a blanket in one of the spare rooms so that Zach could have a place to sleep, given that this was the whole reason he was even here, along with a small desk since he was still allowed to work four hours a day.

They made a deal with the Zachbots that while Zach was here, he was not allowed to try to collect animals for obvious reasons. So she was actually pretty curious to see if he would come up with some machinery not involving any life forms.

Once Zach arrived, the look on his face was enough to make it all worth it. He REALLY did not want to be here, shutting himself off in his room immediately, not even bothering with a greeting , but that was pretty much expected of him.

* * *

When Martin and Chris got back it was time to eat, so Chris went to give Zach some food. he probably didn’t want to eat with them and they didn’t want to make him more whiny than necessary.

"Zach, it’s five thirty, I brought you a plate "

Zach had been jotting down ideas, if he was going to actually make any progress, he’d need to work in Aviva’s lab and he didn’t want everyone to throw a hissy fit while he was making any machines so he tried to come up with something that would not involve using critters. It was very out of his comfort zone and he was trying to keep it simple, but nothing stuck out to him.

"Leave it at the door, I’ll eat when I’m done working"

"You’re done working right now, your four hours are up"

He stood up with a shock. Were they really listening to his Zachbots’ requests? "Wait, you’re actually taking this seriously?"

"The reason why you’re even here? Yes Zach, pretty sure everyone’s taking it seriously. Come on, open up."

"That’s stupid, my robots are just acting weird and you’re only taking advantage of it to keep me docile. I thought we both knew this."

"Zach I can guaranty you everyone here is just making sure you don’t die"

For such a do-gooder he just said a pretty confident lie. Zach grit his teeth. "I. Am. Fine. Chris."

" _No,_ you’re not." Chris was getting impatient, the door wasn’t locked so he was staying out by pure politeness, but if Zach wasn’t going to take a break he would force him to.

"I don’t get it ! I’m just trying to stay productive"

"Zach if I hadn’t caught you a month ago you would be dead, you realize that right?"

He tensed up. Not wanting to think about that memory. "Don’t care. Shut up."

"Alright, I'm coming in."

"What? Wait!" Zach rushed to the door, but Chris was already inside smelling the air.

Chris’ eyes narrowed. "Zach, why does your room smell like coffee? "

"I can explain-"

"Explain that coffeepot in the corner too then. Did you make a shape-shifting coffeepot to sneak in the Tortuga? For someone who didn’t even think we were taking this seriously you seem pretty prepared."

"I didn’t want to take any chances alright? Now get out of my room"

"Oh, okay sure, one sec-" he grabbed that coffeepot and threw it out of the window, hearing it break once in contact with the ground.

Zach's eyes widened and switched from the window to the man besides him. _"What was that for jackass?"_

"For your sleeping problem, duh." he smiled smugly . "Also, I’m not leaving until that plate is finished."

"So what? You’ll force me to finish it?"

"No but I will invade your privacy until you do, I did bring my own plate anyway"

"Urgh, fine." He snatched his plate and ate it in silence while giving the biggest death glare he could muster.

This was going to be hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, a chapter that's more that a thousand words!! Hope you like that one, the way I phrase stuff feels weird to me but who knows? Maybe people might not hate it!


	4. laboratories and dinnertime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zach works on damadged parts and starts a competition

Zach and Aviva were working in silence in her lab. While Aviva was designing a new creature power suit, Zach was repairing a Zachbot that got destroyed a few months back. He didn’t find any concepts to design in the end and he figured if he was only allowed to work four hours a day he might as well do something useful with them.

After a while, Aviva spoke up. "So, your Zachbots are sentient, should we feel bad when we break them? "

"Don’t. They can’t feel pain and they’re kind of a hive mind so you’re not really committing murder."

"Good to know."

More silence, then it was Zach’s turn.

"Hey Aviva? "

"Yeah? "

"What’s your plan here? "he looked up from his work. " Why do you insist on indulging my Zachbots? There’s no point in it."

"Are you kidding?You’ve been getting really thin, you can’t expect us not to get worried"

" Alright, let’s say I’m not fine, which I am completely, _why_ would you get worried? I’m the enemy, getting rid of me should be a good thing for you people"

" you dying would be annoying, also you’re the only guy who rivals with my technology so you being gone would make all the other missions a lot less challenging"

The corners of his mouth quirked up a bit before going back down. "And also easier, pretty sure animal safety is a bit more important than your entertainment."

"Ooh, look who's talking about animal safety now? Anyway, you have to realize you can’t just keep using animals in you machines right? Not even from an ethical standpoint, you need to keep the animals alive in the suits, jump trough a bunch of legal loopholes every time,pay the fuel cost, and even then, they’re not even that essential a part in you robots! Seriously, that Tasmanian devil robot did not even use the Tasmanian devil at all."

"Well that is just rude, I would have made very nice robots a month ago if you guys hadn’t shown up." Even as he said it he started to doubt himself, using animals was starting to get more difficult and less profitable, but it was his brand, the one thing that made his work unique, and he didn’t know if he could compete without the buzz that trait gave him.

" First of all, that's just another inconvenience using animals brings, " she objected, not even looking up from her laptop, " and second, really? "

"oh my god"

"that’s the only thing that would have happened? Nothing else? "

"Aviva please-"

"because I’m pretty sure a nice Varmitech-sized corpse falling on the African savannah is something that might have happened, Zach. "

"Will you guys quit it with that argument? It was one time! "Zach got up suddenly, but he’d been sitting for too long and had to sit back down quickly while clutching his head because of how dizzy he was. "Urgh.In any case, my Zachbots wouldn’t have been guarding the animals, so they could have caught me. "

"Well they shouldn’t have to. We’re … really worried Zach" the look of pity she gave him after his small outburst pretty much confirmed it .

"You know I hate this right? "He looked down, not comfortable with Aviva’s eyes boring into him.

"Yeah, we all know."

"I’m going to be an ungrateful jerk the whole time, you have to realize that."

"I do. We all do. Chris threw your coffeepot through the window remember? " She joked, trying to relieve a bit of the tension building up.

"How could I forget? I still haven’t forgiven him."

They kept working like this for a while. Losing track of time and getting two extra hours of work. Aviva said it was a treat for allowing actual human conversations, but Zach was pretty sure she just forgot to check."

* * *

" It’s dinnertime! " Jimmy said while entering the lab. Bringing the smell of the kitchen with him. He was a surprisingly good cook, even if Zach hated to admit it.

They both got up and went to the main part of the Tortuga. He’d agreed to start eating up there since it made him feel a bit less babysat and he could at least pretend this was all just a very casual work meeting. He’d still only stand in the corner and stayed quiet. Trying as hard as he could to find a part of the food to be upset about and failing miserably.

Sometimes the crew would try and get him to talk a bit, but he’d mostly keep to himself. Apparently this time it as Martin’s turn.

"So Zach, how’s your plate? Anything to say about the food? "

"It’s… adequate."

"Adequate, huh?" He smirked "See Jimmy? Told you no one could ever insult your food, it’s physically impossible. "

Zach took it as a challenge, and failed it miserably. He sighed. "Fine, it’s delicious. Why is it delicious? You’re a pilot! Cooking wasn’t in your job description! "

They all looked at him approvingly. Koki even looked impressed. "wow Zach, I think that’s the kindest whining I’ve ever heard. There may be hope for you yet"

Jimmy stood with a smile. Swelling to the brim with joy "thanks, Zach. That’s really nice"

They all started laughing while Zach looked on with confusion. He suddenly got very invested in the ground below and frowned and saw there was a lot of dust on it. He’d need to fix this later.

"Okay, " Chris exclaimed, "you’ve got to tell us Zach. Who’s the better cook, Gaston or Jimmy? "

"Uh, that’s a pretty complicated question. " Zach said, a bit sheepishly. The fact that he even considered the choice a challenge seemed to make the crew members prouder and prouder.

In the end, Zach couldn’t manage to objectively decide, so they made a game out of it. They’d installed a big board in the middle of the room, with one side the advantages of Gourmand’s cooking, and the other with Jimmy’s.

Zach was getting a bit overwhelmed with the attention he was getting from being the only one to have tested Gourmand’s food. Chris must have noticed it because he was the one who volunteered to write the arguments down as to get some spotlight off of him.

"Alright, so for Jimmy, we’ve got price range, a clean environmental conscience, motherly warmth and consistency. While for Gourmand, we’ve got exotic flavors, high-end meals and adventurous recipes"

"you know, you may have to erase the word "environmental" from Jimmy’s list cause I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind cooking people either. " Zach decided to add, a bit nervously.

Chris looked at him with a pale face. "Are you serious? So that time he said he’d cook me after he’d finish the platypus eggs he wasn’t kidding? "

" I thought he was, but then he offered me a plate of his former assistant. " The crew all looked at him, mouth agape. "Which I declined, _obviously_. Now I need to know exactly what I’ll be eating before confirming it with him. "

They all shuddered a bit, then Martin spoke up. "Speaking of the platypus incident, those eggs were tiny! At least when you eat Jimmy’s food you don’t leave with your stomach half-empty, right? "

Nods of approval went around, Jimmy won that round and after the cannibalism comment, no one was willing to contest it.

They all went to bed, Zach actually managed to get three hours of sleep instead of his usual thirty minutes. So they must have been doing _something_ right.

shit, did he really just think that?


	5. a hike in the woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zach gets sick and Chris helps out.

It was about eight thirty when Team Tortuga were all disturbed from their morning routine by the sound of Zach vomiting like a seasick hippopotamus down the toilet.

Apparently, after managing to get three hours of sleep last night, instead of noticing how refreshed he felt, he panicked at the thought of two hours and thirty minutes of design being wasted and decided to take his daily dose of caffeine immediately since he couldn’t get any in the afternoon. He drank ten cups of coffee in one shot. So, Chris went to the bathroom and made Zach drink some water to help a bit while Jimmy made some ginger tea and the girls and Martin prepared for the day.

"Zach, what were you thinking?" Chris said as Zach wiped his mouth. The inventor was shaking , eyes wide as if he’d seen God and been told he was a disappointment . He’d almost feel bad for Zach if it were not for the fact that he completely brought this on himself.

"I just wanted to be more productive okay? " he tried to argue. " I missed two hours and thirty minutes that could have been put to better use thanks to you wild Rats. "

"Zach, you can use your four hours after six- you’re working in secret aren’t you? "

"… no…" he replied in an unusually high tone, even for himself.

"Your face is screaming guilty you know? "

His face flushed. " Well , what else am I supposed to do with my time? It’s not like I’ve got any hobbies. Apart from robotics. _Which counts as work now._ "

Chris thought about that for a minute, then he spoke. "fresh air helps when you’re sick, right? Come hike with me. "

Zach was confused . "Really? Me? Walking around in the forest? I’m not exactly an outdoors-man. "

"At least try it! You’ve been getting in a creative dry season right? Well, Aviva says creatures are kind of like machines made of meat and bones. Maybe they’ll inspire you somehow. " He smiled reassuringly.

" Huh, I never thought of varmints that way. " Zach looked thoughtful. " Fine, I’ll give it a try. But you know I’m probably going to use those animals in my inventions right? "

"Well you’ll only be able to after you’ve managed to get a good eight hours of sleep every night. Which, looking at the previous unfortunate incident we will not be reminded of , is not something you’re going to let happen easily. You’ll probably get impatient and make the machine without it. "

He laughed a bit. "Good point."

* * *

After Zach finished the tea Jimmy prepared from him and got into a change of clothes, he and Chris were ready to go. They were currently in the Boreal forest of Canada near a small town and both had a light jacket on .Chris also brought his creature power suit, just in case. After a while of walking in silence, Zach started to get bored. "you know, you’d think the one time I’m searching for animals without the intention of using them for machines mother nature might help us out a bit more with the search. "

"Aw are you still grumpy from the caffeine overdose?" Chris said jokingly. They’d only been walking for thirty minutes and hadn’t seen any creature yet . that was, until a grizzly bear cub came out of a bush right in front of Zach.

The black haired man was about to scream at the top of his lungs before Chris put his hand over his mouth.

" _Don’t!_ " Chris whispered to him. "that’s a grizzly bear cub. Grizzlies are very solitary creatures, but if there’s a cub, the mother will probably be nearby. If she spots us with her baby, she’s going to protect him at _all costs!_ " While Zach shivered on the spot, Chris tried to find the mother. He looked around but couldn’t spot her anywhere. The cub was even grunting for her but she wasn’t showing up. That was a really bad sign. He’d have to investigate.

"Come on Zach, we’re going to try to find the mama bear. "

" _Find her?_ Are you _nuts?_ You’re the one who said she’d tear us to shreds if she saw us with Winnie the pooh over here. "

"Well we just won’t bring him with us! Here," he took a small round object out of his pocket and put it on the bear cubs ear. "that’s a tracker in case whoever took his mom comes back for him. "

They started to walk at a faster pace, Chris was getting worried and accelerated subconsciously while Zach struggled to keep up. Eventually, not paying close attention, he got his leg stuck on a root and fell.

Zach’s screamed, warning the other man. He turned around and held out a hand to him. "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine, my jacket is ruined though, so that’s great." He was glad the night had started to set in because taking Chris’ hand might have made him blush a lot more that he’d like to admit.

Zach got up, Chris didn’t let go.

The looked at each other, laughing nervously about it. He didn’t let go.

They then heard some worried cries in the distance, an animal calling for help. Chris started to run towards the sound and _he still wasn’t letting go._

They stopped in front of a black cat with its leg in a bear trap. Chris was saying something about the cat’s leg being infected but Zach couldn’t hear because _he was holding Chris Kratt’s hand ._

Finally, he let go to crouch down at the injured feline. It started to hiss at him. "it must be someone’s old pet that got released in the forest after they couldn’t care for it. "Chris winced. He’d opened the leg hold but the wound was definitely deep, that and the infection might lead to an amputation.

He inspected the trap closer, it was made by Gourmand’s favorite hunting gear company. He’d bet his creature com he’d been installing traps in the area to try and use the bears for his next meal.

He looked at his GPS, the bear cub was moving at the speed of a car. Shit.

"Zach, you’ve got a GPS right? Can you get to the Tortuga without me? " He asked while bandaging the cat’s leg.

"Yeah but what about the ca-" Chris shoved it into Zach’s arms. "Oh, okay ,sure, give _me_ the wild animal I am in no way trained to handle.." he spat.

" It’s a _cat,_ Zach. Just don’t push on the leg too much and don’t let it scratch you." Zach’s clothes were now covered in scratches. "All right then, get to the Tortuga before he rips trough the jacket and into your skin. And do _not_ drop him. He’s lucky we found him. He wouldn’t have lasted another day in this forest even without a bruised leg. And maybe scratch him behind the ear on the way, that might calm him."

"Can I go now? "

" Yeah sure, I’ll call the Tortuga to let everyone know what’s going on. "

Chris started walking into the forest, then paused.

"Hey Zach? Be careful."


	6. grizzly rescue mission from culinary doom.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zach is a surprinzingly good actor, or maybe the bros are just dumb idk.

Shit.

_Shit shit shit shit!_

Zach couldn’t believe what was happening.

He’d brought the stupid cat back to the Tortuga. Turns out scratching it behind the ear really did calm him, he’d remember that. The crew had already gotten the message from Chris when he arrived and so Martin went to go and help fight gourmand, but the idiots got captured.

They decided to try to send Koki to the rescue while Aviva treated the cat’s wound -Martin didn’t give him a name yet since he left before Zach got there- but going alone without a plan was exactly how the brothers got captured, and they didn’t want it to happen again so they tried to hatch a plan while Zach stood awkwardly in the corner. 

Of course he was in the corner. He wasn’t going to try to help them, was he? He was their enemy, of course he wouldn’t. Anyway, he was preoccupied by other things. Like this weird weigh in his guts every time he thought about Chris and Martin being stuck in _the cold metal prison in the back of Gourmand’s mobile kitchen oh god gourmand was going to eat them-_ nope, not going there yet.

Crap. He was worried, why was he worried? This was a good thing! Two less wild rats to annoy him and make sure he didn’t work too hard and ate with him to make sure he finished his plate and _holy shit he cared about those rats._

No, this is just his stupid brain thinking he could care about people. This was just a passing frenzy he could calmly repress and _by god why did Chris have to hold his hand for no reason it made his so confused_.

Fuck it. He’d make sure those two wouldn’t die, but _only_ so they’d owe him one. That’s his only motive. Because caring about people only gets you hurt. And he didn’t have the time to get hurt. He had a job to do.

"Koki, come here, I’ve got a plan. "

* * *

Well, that could have gone better.

When martin got Chris’ message telling him where Gourmand was, his creature com suddenly went blank. He got worried and rushed in hawk form to save him, only to get himself caught in Gourmand’s dough blaster.

Right now, he and Chris were stuck in a jail cell intended for human-sized meat which he had no desires of investigating further. Their creature power suits were taken off them and put on the other side of the room.

They were currently trying to find a way of escaping when they heard a familiar voice reverberate through the building.

" Thanks for letting me come here on such short notice there Gaston, I’ve heard you were close and I just had to taste that bear meat you’ve got. "

Zach was standing in the entrance talking with Gourmand, smiling broadly. Martin curled his fist. They knew he was still a jerk but they didn’t think he would profit off them getting captured to try and get a meal from gourmand like that. Martin was furious but Chris just looked betrayed. If he didn’t care about them or the bears then that cat they found was probably dead by now.

"I tried to contact you but you’ve been pretty silent recently." Gourmand grumbled, sharpening his knife. "Where have you been Zach? "

"Well I’ve ran into a bit of trouble with those wild rats recently. They’ve been particularly annoying these last few weeks, you know how they are." He shrugged.

"Speaking of them, those Kratt brothers have tried to take my precious ingredients from me. Don't worry though, I managed to stop them in time"

"Ooh! Did they have their suits on? I would love to get my hands on that technology! "

" Yes, they’re in the back, right there. "

The two men entered while the brothers threw screams and insults. Zach ignored them , instead staring intently at the tech, studying it. They were so focused on berating him for his betrayal that they nor Gourmand heard the metallic birds flying through an open window and fiddling with the locks of both the cages.

" I can give them to you, for a small fee of course-" Gaston offered, but was interrupted by a crash coming from the entryway.

"You better check that out" Zach stated matter-of-factly as Gourmand ran out. The moment he was gone the cages opened and Zach dropped his nonchalant smile he’d been wearing the whole visit and put on a grave face.

The male inventor threw the creature power suits at the two Kratts. "All right you two, get in your grizzly forms and go help Koki. I’m going to use those birdbots to make a hole in the wall and get those bears out."

"Wait. " Chris looked at the robots closely. "Those look like oxpeckers. Did you remember how I escaped back when you took those Rhinos? _Did you get inspired by nature and not use actual animals?_ "

Zach reddened, then tried to shrug it off. "Pretty sure a real one can’t laser a hole through the wall but whatever. Using a real one would have meant going all the way to Africa anyway."

They both felt giddy at this new revelation.strangely proud that Zach managed to make a machine that didn't have an animal in it, but also the fact that Zach knew what an oxpecker and a grizzly were. Chris having clearly rubbed off on him, even if he'd die before admitting it.

"Zach-"

"get out. "

"We’re very proud of you."

" get out now. "

And they did. Destroying more hunting gear as they went.

* * *

"Hurray for Zach everybody!" a chorus of cheers went through the crowd. They were all celebrating the latest rescue mission, surprised that Zach of all people was behind it. It was beautiful outside, so the popular vote decided to eat their late lunch out in nature. The sun was actually starting to set now so it was more of a dinner than lunch but they'd had a pretty busy day today and had mostly skipped it. Zach tried to say he had enough of the outside world for one day but was enticed by the offer of brandy.

The attention still made him uncomfortable, although the alcohol and Chris’ arm around his shoulder made his head buzz too much to actually care. He wondered if Chris was doing it subconsciously or if he genuinely liked being around him. Probably the former. Stupid dumb Zach brain thinking his stupid dumb crush from stupid dumb third grade might actually like him back. Stupid.

" I haven’t started being all goody-goody, by the way. I just did it so you guys would owe me one. I still think grizzlies are scary and smell bad, I just knew you guys wouldn’t leave without making sure those varmints were safe. " He retorted against the smiles.

"Yeah yeah you’ve said it four times now. We get it, you’re scared of bears. " Koki teased.

" I’ll have you know _that is a perfectly reasonable fear_. "

"Sure it is. "

Martin chimed in. " I still can’t believe you tricked Gourmand for us… What if he finds out? "

"If he does, I’m getting an unlimited supply of Jimmy’s food, no questions asked. His is better anyway"

They all laughed at that. Zach smiled while staring at his cup.

Then his eyes widened. And the warm feeling he'd been having was replaced with dread. He was going to get hurt, wasn’t he?


	7. burrito blanket traps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zach has a small freakout and gets caught working late.

It was the dead of the night and a tipsy Zach Varmitech was lying in bed.

Not only did he actually help save those two brothers, but he had made machines that didn’t use varmints to do it. He said it was because of a lack of resources but he knew, deep down, he just didn’t want to make them upset.

Those rats had managed to break open a seal he’d put over his heart years ago, one that was put so he wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore. And they managed to claw their way in like a horrible infestation.

"You know what happens when you start to let your guard down." The little voice in his head whispered. " Your sentiments will be the death of you. "

He got up quickly and decided he needed coffee, ignoring what his mind said. He wasn’t going to fall asleep anyway, might as well try to do some work.

He went to the kitchen and picked up the pot. He knew it wasn’t going to let him get a drink this late, but he was a hacker, after all.

A coffeepot couldn’t be too hard to reprogram.

* * *

A coffeepot was absolutely impossible to reprogram.

He had to admit it, Aviva was good at protecting her programings. He’d been working on the damned thing for at least two hours now. The frustration at his failure and the passive aggressive comments the coffeepot was throwing at him made him lash out and throw the machine on the ground. Making a little black shape jump in the corner of his eyes .

That’s right. The stupid cat was on the worktable, the pest had been sticking close to him ever since he got it out of the woods. It still didn’t have a name yet, the blue one hesitating with every single one he’d thought up, which was a first for him.

"Well, someone’s grumpy. "

" _fucking shit-_ " Zach jumped, a look of fear in his eyes. "Martin, where the hell did you come from? "

"The bathroom. Then I heard a loud noise and rushed in because I thought it might have been someone in danger. Turns out it’s just my local insomniac trying to hack a coffeemaker and failing miserably. " He answered, a bit tired. He then brightened up at the sight of the small animal. "Hey! I didn’t know Shadow was hanging out with you! Or maybe Simba? Fluffy? Gizmo? Nope, not a good name either… What is up with your little face buddy? I can’t seem to find the right name for it. "

"Ignoring that, why don't you go back to your bedroom and let me work? If you need me, I’m going to keep chipping at that thing’s defenses until it gives me a latte. " Very stupid of himself to say that. He knew Martin would probably stop him, but his genius was still a bit watered down from the alcohol.

"Actually Zach, I wanted to ask you something. " He sat down on the chair in front of him.

"What is it? "

"See, I checked the news earlier, and somehow, while you were helping us with the grizzlies, you were speaking at a tech conference in California." He pulled out a screen tablet under Zach’s eyes. Effectively, he saw himself speaking in a room full of interviewers and lab coats.

"Oh yeah, that’s just Toodles." He said dismissively.

"Toodles?"

"Yup, remember that Zachbot I used to do a fake image of Chris with the red shirt? I didn’t program him to say "toodles" by the way, he learned it himself. Well, he can turn into pretty much anyone, not just your brother. So, sometimes I use him to impersonate me when I don’t want to go to a meeting."

"So given that example, you could probably build any robot you wanted to do the work that you don’t want." Martin crossed his arms, looking expectantly at the other man.

"What are you insinuating?"

"Doing taxes can't be much harder for a robot than impersonating you. I don’t think you have too much work on your hands not to sleep, Zach, I think you just don’t believe you’ve done enough to have earned it."

He froze at that thought. The room became completely silent, save for the cat’s noises.

"I think you should go to bed, Martin." He tried, obviously wanting the conversation to end.

"Alright," He sighed, "but I’m not going to let you work yourself raw until morning, you’re going too." Martin started to pick up a blanket while Zach laughed.

"And what are you going to do- "

He then got picked up by Martin and was wrapped forcefully into a burrito, Martin finally securing it with some safety pins. Zach tried to fight him, but his grip was iron and he couldn’t move an inch. Who knew leading an active lifestyle made you able to kidnap people so easily?

Martin’s eyes narrowed. "Nap time. Now. "

* * *

Well, this was probably the most humiliated he’d felt in years.

Zach was carried to his room and was thrown unceremoniously on his bed. After about thirty minutes, the idiotic creature went to the corner of his bed and started purring, the arrogant bastard.

Still, the vibrations were a bit soothing. He told himself it was a motor and actually managed to close his eyes for a few hours.

* * *

"Wake up sleepyhead. "

Zach groggily sat up on the bed, happy to find he was free from his blanket prison, embarrassed to find Chris smiling besides him, and horrified to find a black mass on his lap.

"I can’t believe Martin did the burrito thing to you, " Chris chuckled.

"Shut up. " As he tensed up, he thought of pushing the cat off his lap just to piss Chris off but the moment he put his hand on it, it just sank into the fur and then he was suddenly petting the damned thing.

"Don’t be like that, I’m a burrito blanket victim too you know? "Chris looked at him softly. "I was a pretty hyperactive kid, which was a good thing in our family. Until I started to run off late at night to climb the trees. Eventually, Martin got tired of getting me down at midnight and I got put in detention. "

Zach snickered at that. "See, this is why I just don’t go into nature. "

"That’s not the point." He looked at the feline. "You know, he really seems to like you, do you give him snacks or something?"

"I can guarantee you I wouldn’t do anything to get that thing closer to me than it already is. "

"Weird, you don’t seem to mind petting him though. Maybe you should be the one to name him."

He blushed "It’s not my fault! That thing trapped me in a prison of fluffiness. "

"Well, I still think you’re adorable together. "

The chat meowed approvingly while Zach stared bullet at him. "Whatever. "

Chris giggled at that. "Changing the subject then, Martin told me about Toodles, it’s pretty cool that it can just be anything, it’s probably more complicated than a hologram right ?"

Praise. That, Zach could work with. "Yeah, it is. Took me hours but god was it worth it. "

" Not a fan of people huh? " Chris smiled at him. God, why did he have to sit so close to him?

"Though, if you’re smart enough to build that, it’s weird you can’t make any robots to take some of the other workload off. "

The moment Chris finished speaking, Zach started to panic .

"Your brother put you up to this, didn’t he? " He got up from the bed,the mass on him slipping off to the bed corner and his voice growing louder. "You think because you took me for a walk I’m going to do whatever you want? "

"What? Martin told me about Toodles, that’s it. I asked you because I wanted to! "

"Why would you want to ask me that then huh?" this time, he screamed so loud that a raven shape started running down the stairs in a rush.

"Maybe because I care about you! "

"Well don’t! "

Chris looked almost hurt. "You don’t get to tell me that. "

"Look who’s talking! Practically acting like a _goddamn_ babysitter to a _goddamn_ grown man and getting angry when I tell them to stop! "

"Maybe we wouldn’t need to act like babysitters if you let people help you instead of literally working yourself to death! " Chris, too, was starting to lose his cool now.

" I can’t stop working! "

_"Why not? "_

"Because if I can’t handle the load, then what good am I to anyone! "

A silence installed itself in the room, along with it a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Then, Chris spoke. "Zach, you don’t have to drain yourself to be useful."

"Do you have a better idea then? " He leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

"Yeah, you living a healthy life "

Zach sank to the floor and held his knees up to his chest. "I don’t think I deserve one. "

"Yeah, well, I know you do. Here- " Chris went to sit next to him again. "See? You’re useful. If you weren’t here, who would completely ignore me when I start flirting?"

He then nudged himself right on Zach’s shoulder. The sight of Zach’s face transforming into a tomato making him snort a bit. "Oh… so- that’s what was happening huh? "

Zach took a shaky breath, clearly nervous about what he was going to say.

"I don’t- " He looked down at the floor, concentrating every piece of dust he could find. Which wasn’t hard, to be honest. "Chris, I don’t... I don’t _know_ how to care about people. Caring always meant getting hurt in the end for me. " Zach was shaking a bit, forcing each word out while his consciousness screamed at him to stop. " If you’re asking me to trust you, then you have to promise me you won’t hurt me. " He put his hands to his face. "Please, _please_ Don’t hurt me Chris, I don’t know if I could handle it. I’m begging you not to. "

Chris hesitated at that. "Can you swear not to harm animals anymore? "

They both smiled a bit at that, the two already knowing the answer from seeing yesterday's antics. "Deal."

He then felt something so incomprehensible he barely registered it at first, Chris was hugging him, he was touching him and holding him and he was so close to him. He somehow felt both so protected and so vulnerable at the same time that he didn’t know how to handle it.

"Then I promise you. I’m never going to let you get hurt ever again, Zach. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know we're not supposed to repeat words when writing, but i think that while in an intense moment it might highlight the character's irrationality, is it working? let me know in the comments! also this slow burn just got a lot faster huh? I'm prbably going to take that tag off lol.

**Author's Note:**

> hey ! this is my first fic EVER so i do hope it wasn't too terrible. please do leave criticism because i have no other way of getting better.


End file.
